A haunting tale of love set against the huge backdrop of Irish politics and the events leading up to the 1916 Easter uprising. It's a huge book, ten years in the making, noteworthy for its remarkable language, characters and ambition. O'Neill's two 16-year-old heroes, Jim Mack and Doyler Doyle, swim to the island, grow up and fall in love with each other, though not without some absorbing complications that mix fiction with real-life events. O'Neill, a Dubliner, also hauls in some pretty fine references to Ulysses (as well as slinging some mud on the Catholic church).  (IRE120, $16.00)